Instilling Religion in Greek and Turkish Nationalism: A "Sacred Synthesis"

A "Sacred Synthesis"

I. Grigoriadis

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781137301208
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology of Religion
• Index: Social Sciences

The first comparative study to examine the role of religion in the formation of Greek and Turkish nationalisms, this book argues that the shift to an increasingly religious paradigm in both countries can be explained in terms of the exigencies of consolidation and the need to appeal to grassroots elements and account for diversity.

1

Religion and Greek Nationalism: From Conflict to Synthesis

Abstract: Greek nationalism was clearly inimical to religion in its early phases. Neo-Hellenic enlightenment was perceived as a double struggle against Ottoman despotism and Orthodox institutions. The promotion of the term “Hellas” symbolized efforts to restore the ancient Greek classical civilization against the Ottoman and Byzantine legacy. Nevertheless, millet affiliations remained the primary identity marker for Orthodox populations. Following the establishment of the Greek nation-state, an early attempt to marginalize the role of Orthodoxy was replaced by a synthetic approach arguing in favor of the complementarity of Hellenism and Orthodoxy. Irredentist policies and the decline of the Ottoman Empire added to the expedience of this thesis. Religion remained the indisputable criterion of national identity until the very end of Greek-Turkish nationalist competition, as the case of the Karamanlıs and the failure of the “Turkish Orthodox Church” project manifest.

Keywords: Greece; Hellas; Hellenic-Christian Synthesis; irredentism; Karamanlı; Orthodoxy; Paparrigopoulos

Grigoriadis, Ioannis N. Instilling Religion in Greek and Turkish Nationalism: A “Sacred Synthesis.” New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. DOI: 10.1057/9781137301208.

Greek nationalism in the eighteenth century was built on secularist foundations. It was introduced to the Ottoman lands by a nascent and ambitious bourgeoisie that had grown in the large Ottoman cities, by developed prosperous Diaspora communities in numerous European cities, and was in a position to follow the intellectual trends that shaped Europe in the eighteenth century and participate in the revolutionary movements across the continent in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The intellectual message of the Enlightenment and the political predicament of the French Revolution were soon disseminated to the Ottoman lands and held a distinctly secularist underpinning. Greek nationalism met with the resistance of not only the Ottoman authorities but also conservative circles of the Ottoman Greek elite.

Education was one of the first contested domains.¹ The introduction of science courses in the curricula of Greek community schools, the dissemination of agnostic or atheist views, and demands for the limitation of the overwhelming role of religion in the education of the Ottoman Greek community were already pronounced before the outbreak of the French revolution. The interest of the Enlightenment in ancient Greek civilization, republicanism, and democracy also raised interest in classical Greek heritage in Europe and among Greek economic and intellectual elites. In that light, religion was considered a medieval impediment to their successful appropriation of Greek culture. Religion and religious institutions such as the Ecumenical Patriarchate were considered key pillars and indispensable elements of the Ottoman ancien regime.

To the aim of reviving ancient Greek culture and civilization in the land where it once flourished, a new term was introduced to signify the emerging nation and replace the term Romiosyni/Romania and Romios: “Hellas” and “Hellenic.” The terms “Hellas” and “Hellenic” were originally used in classical and Hellenistic years to identify the territory and the common linguistic and cultural bonds of the ancient Greek world. In the late Roman years though, the words “Hellene” and “Hellenic” ended up meaning “pagan” and “non-Christian” and became the antonym of the term “Christian.” As Christianity spread among Greek-speaking people, consolidated its demographic growth, and eventually gained official religion status, the same words acquired a heavily negative connotation, as they were linked with pre-Christian pagan past. Hence, they eventually fell into disuse and oblivion, as Christianity replaced pagan religions. The new word that came to signify the community of Greek-speaking Christians was the Greek name for the citizens of the Roman Empire, “Romeos” or “Romios.” This term was later translated as “Rum” into Persian, Arabic, and Turkish and became the ethnonym for the subject population of the Byzantine (or accurately Eastern Roman) Empire.²

Adamantios Korais and the resurrection of “Hellas”

The very reinvigoration of the terms “Hellas” and “Hellene” had a major symbolic significance. These were terms fallen into virtual oblivion since the late Roman years,³ which were resuscitated to underline the secular character of the nationalist movement and dissociate the movement from any Romaic references. All Balkan and Anatolian Christians were invited to join the Hellenic culture, learn Greek, and thus become eligible for membership of the Hellenic “imagined community.” Although culture and language were understood to be the key symbolic resources of Hellenic national identity, their specific content was disputed. Adamantios Korais, arguably the most influential intellectual of the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment, claimed that to reach its ancient glory the Hellenic nation had to rid itself of all Ottoman and Byzantine influences, which had kept it aloof from all intellectual developments in Western Europe; to recover its ancient classical culture; and to establish a secular state under the name of “Hellas.”⁴ In Korais’ view, Orthodoxy was not an indispensable condition of Hellenic national identity; on the contrary, it was a critical obstacle to the nation’s modernization, which favored subservience to the Ottoman Sultan and rejected the introduction of “corrosive” Western European ideas.⁵ In his view, Orthodoxy amplified the effects of Ottoman despotism:

The so long and shameful slavery cannot of course correct us. It is a feature of slavery not to correct but further corrupt human soul. Correction was only hoped from our own holy religion, because it is the only religion which requires from its followers brotherly love and concord, but we came to the point of corrupting even that religion.⁶

In particular, Korais accused the higher Orthodox clergy of collaborating with Ottoman authorities and of adulterating the message of Christianity:

The bishops treating Christianity as an instrument of tyranny resorted to prayers as magic spells. The slaves, who had to join the bishops, were also praying, thinking that prayer was enough as a magic spell to heal the conscience of sins.⁷

Korais thought that education would break this conundrum. Through an extensive publication program, focusing on making ancient Greek classics available “again” to modern Greeks, Korais aimed to build a cultural bridge between modern and classical Greece, which would bypass and discard two millennia of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine history. Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic world of the Eastern Mediterranean, the amalgamation of Hellenistic, Roman, and Christian elements that gave rise to the Eastern Roman Empire were dismissed as they did not meet with classical ideals.⁸ Education was, in Korais’ view, a key factor in reclaiming Greece’s ancient glory and independence. In one of his addresses to the youth of Greece he stated:

Increase, o youth of Greece, the zeal of illuminating the fatherland and recall again the ancient glory of our forefathers. Remember that you are descendants of Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Demosthenes, Thucydides, Sophocles and thousands of other such men. Think how much hardship these admirable men suffered, in order to honor the fatherland, how much glory they received from it while living and how much they still receive posthumously from the wise nations of Europe.⁹

According to Korais, the final aim would be the restoration of Hellenic to its proper position, as a leader among Europe’s civilized nation-states:

Being honored by the Hellenic name, you also have primarily to honor this name, by restoring humiliated Hellas to its ancient height and splendor.¹⁰

Language occupied a key position in Korais’ program. Given that language, despite its inevitable evolution, constituted the single most important cultural bond between classical and modern Greece, Korais facilitated modern Greeks’ access to classical heritage by championing an ambitious and far-reaching language reform program. Recognizing the impracticality of reintroducing classical Greek as the official language of the would-be Hellenic state, he spearheaded a campaign to relieve vernacular Greek from all its medieval Ottoman and Byzantine influences. Korais came to the point of introducing a new Greek language idiom, called “katharevoussa” (or purified) that would combine the best of both “linguistic worlds.” It would enjoy the precision and wealth of ancient Greek, while maintaining the vibrancy and the liveliness of vernacular Greek. Katharevoussa was conceived to be literally “pure” of all foreign language traces and “adulterations.”¹¹ Turkish, Slavic, and even Latin loan words were replaced by ancient Greek words whose use had lapsed over the centuries or by new Greek words created specifically for that purpose. Hence, the new idiom would reinforce the claims of continuity between the classical civilization and modern Hellas. The new nation-state would emerge as the legitimate legatee. At the grassroots levels, however, the situation looked very complicated. The existing contradictions would become clear, when the message of the French Revolution reac...

Table of contents

• Cover
• HalfTitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1  Religion and Greek Nationalism: From Conflict to Synthesis
• 2  Religion and Turkish Nationalism: From Conflict to Synthesis
• 3  Conclusion
• Appendix I
• Appendix II
• Bibiliography
• Index